The Purim holiday will shortly be over, but Netanyahu is continuing the carnival. After the delegates at the AIPAC conference gave him 14 standing ovations and stopped his speech 46 times, he is coming the end of his most successful week since the last elections. In fact, not even in February 2009 did he enjoy such public acclaim.
According to the survey published this morning, carried out after Netanyahu’s speech in Washington earlier in the week, Likud would win 37 seats if elections were held now, and support for the party has soared to heights it has not known for years. Pictures of a visit to Washington and a speech in English always do it good.
The prime minister returned to his winning formula this week: he is strongest when he frightens and threatens. At the end of a scare campaign in the US, leaving the US public convinced that Iran is about to destroy Israel and launch missiles at them as well, Netanyahu hopes that what went down in the US will catch on in Israel too.
This evening, scarcely 24 hours after his return from Washington, utterly pleased with himself after his speech, and buoyed by the polls, the prime minister will take all three television channels by storm. Nothing will tarnish the joy, not even if he is asked about the Natan Eshel affair or Uzi Arad’s barbs. He won’t allow the scent of success to evaporate, certainly not when Kadima is going into total collapse along the way.
It’s true that, in the traditional photo op in the Oval Office with President Obama, Netanyahu looked as though he had stepped into a boxing ring, but, according to a senior Israeli official, by the end of their ninth meeting each leader understood that the other was here to stay, that they are stuck with each other for at least another four years. The question now is how they will manage to elbow each other without harming state interests.
President Obama is consolidating in the polls and forecasts, but Netanyahu too can sleep soundly. Even if the survey published this morning is a matter of the moment, and the effect of the Washington trip dissipates over the next few weeks, when fuel and electricity prices will rise again, it seems that he has no real rival. Likud will continue to be the governing party in the nineteenth Knesset, and Netanyahu will be prime minister, in a position to choose any coalition partner he wishes, and at end of season prices.